July 14, 15, & 17, 2016

By: Brittany Jones and Takatso Mohlomi

A View from Canada

Aanii, my name is Brittany Jones, I am Anishnabe from Neyaashiinigmiing First Nation in Ontario and am a member of the National Indigenous Young Women’s Council (NIYWC). Along with Kari Wuttunee, I recently represented the council in the Networks for Change project meeting and at the Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV and AIDS in Durban, South Africa.

While in Durban, we had the chance to meet and interact with Young Indigenous women from across South Africa that are part of Girls Leading Change. They are a powerful, driven and beautiful group of women who are committed to making change in their communities, schools and in their country. We had a discussion around the formation of a Girls Leading Change Youth Council. Kari and I shared our experience as members of NIYWC as it is an initiative for and by Indigenous women.

The Girls Leading Change shared ideas on what they could be, what they can do and what their council will look like. Their ideas were great and fueled by passion. Forming a council is a huge undertaking and the work has only just begun but their hearts are with the project. We will continue to support the Girls Leading Change group while they form their council.

During the project meeting, we were able to hear about the various field sites in South Africa and Canada and the work that has begun. We as a council will have the opportunity to choose and guide 2 field sites in Canada. Listening to and learning from the group while they shared their experiences has given us many ideas coming back. NIYWC is a very diverse group and we are located across Canada so have many possibilities moving forward.

While Indigenous populations in Canada and South Africa share a history of colonization, racism and struggle, more apparent on my trip to Durban was the shared history of passion for our people, resilience and strength. This trip was my introduction to South African culture, song and people and it was nothing short of life changing. The work we are doing is important and I look forward to strengthening the relationships I have made while continuing work on the project.

A View from South Africa

I am Takatso Mohlomi, a fourth year education student at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU). I am a member of the young women activists for social change and well-being who call themselves Girls Leading Change. We attended a project’s team meeting on the 14^th -15^th July 2016 held at the Square Boutique & spar Hotel in Mhlanga (Durban, South Africa).

It was a brief but very informative meeting and we had to squeeze in everything in two days time. The meeting was more focused on bringing together the members of the Networks for Change and Well-being project and also aimed at seeing how far we have gone in bringing about the change in our different places.

Our first meeting was comprised of different presentations which reflected on the work that has been done already. To name a few presentations, we had a values clarification which I found very helpful, the website launch, book reading exhibition, and both South African and Canadian presenters who are supported by the bigger project (Networks for Change).

It was suggested in December 2015 that we open a website for the Networks for Change and Well-being project. The suggestion went successfully through the collaborative work between the Canadian and South African women. An official website launch was presented by Takatso Mohlomi and Lelethu Mlobeli. All the members of the project who were available applauded the great work. The website is now available and running at www.networks4change.ca, in addition to that we are also available on Facebook as Networks for Change and Well-being and also on Twitter.

The Girls Leading Change from NMMU presented a beautiful and very touching reading of their published book titled “14 Times a Woman, Indigenous Stories from the Heart”. These young ladies work closely with Prof Naydene from NMMU. The present members of the project were touched and praised the young ladies for the strength of every young woman they portrayed in their awesome stories.

We then heard from the wonderful work done across the world, where we had presenters from South Africa (S A) and Canada. From S A we had Nokukhanya Ngcobo from the University of KwaZulu Natal, Naydene de Lange form Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, and Yolande Coetzer form North West University. On the Canada side we had Marnina Gonick from Mount Saint Vincent University, Sandrina de Finney from University of Victoria, Jessica Danforth & Kari-Dawn Wuttunee from Native Youth Sexual Health Network / National Indigenous Young Women’s Council and lastly we had Pamela Lamb from McGill University. All these presenters gave a very fruitful feedback of what they have covered and listed some events they were still looking forward to.

On the second day, we focused more on what can still be done and how can we still initiate events that will lead to the fair and justice social change we work for. We were separated into six working groups where we started discussions under different provided topics.

We then separated into two groups again where the young women from S A and Canada were in the same group and discussed about opening a young women’s council in S A which will be named Girls Leading Change Youth Council (GLCYC). The older people set together and discussed the communications strategy in knowledge mobilisation and amongst their discussion they emphasised the frequent use of our recently launched website.

This was indeed an eye opening and informative meeting where we set to see our hopes coming into reality. It all started as a dream but today there are so many powerful initiatives born from the Networks for Change and Well-being project.

“It always seems impossible until it is done” – Nelson Mandela

Women and Girls: Leaders, Activists and Champions in the HIV Response

By: Kari-dawn Wuttunee

Tansi, I am thankful to have the platform to write on a part of my experience while in Durban South Africa attending the International Pre-Indigenous Conference on HIV/AIDS 2016 (IIPC2016). The IIPC 2016 is an AIDS affiliated pre-conference that creates a forum for Indigenous Peoples from all over the world to share wise and promising practices, learn from each other and build relationships across continents, cultures, traditions and languages. This year the IIPC 2016 highlighted Indigenous Peoples from Southern Africa to explore Indignity in Africa and HIV in their regions and communities. South Africa pays a important role as the host country because it has the biggest and most high profile HIV epidemic in the world, with an estimated 6.19 million people living with HIV.

This year sessions at IIPC 2016 were diverse and incredible to witness, for one of the breakout sessions the young women from the “Girls Leading Change” project from Nelson Mendela Metropolitan University presented on the topic -Women and Girls: Leaders, Activists and Champions in the HIV Response. Each of the young women from the project took the opportunity to speak about lived experience moving from rural communities to making the move to the city for school. They sat in a semi-circle with traditional regalia and proudly displaying their “Girls Leading Change” t-shirts – one by one they spoke about the challenge each one faced, each one with a story weaved with struggle and accomplishments. I felt proud to know them and being able to call them a friend and realizing they have taught me more about resiliency, culture and kindness then I have ever witnessed before. I know that going forward these young women are re-shaping the Indigenous womanhood narrative and breaking through gender norms by challenging stigmas and racism that oppress them everyday. I am grateful for their friendship and excited to be working with this amazing group of young Indigenous South African women.

First Workshop with Young People in Khetani: Leaders for Young Women’s Success

June 29 – July 1, 2016
By: Rakiya Larkin

The Networks for Change and Well-being Research Team at UKZN held our first workshop with seven young people at the Isibani Welfare Centre in Khetani over three days from 29 June to 01 July. The programme developed for the workshop included activities like body maps, photovoice and drawing. Each visual method used had a purpose, but what the young people and the research team got even more out of the process than we expected.

We started out the first day of our workshops, on July 29^th, with warm tea and muffins, as us Durban folk were not used to the frigid cold weather on that Wednesday morning in Khethani. It was a slow start but eventually all the young people arrived and were ready to get down to business. We all went around and did introductions and a check-in to see how everyone was doing that morning and what they were looking forward to about the three days we had together. It is important that we do a check-in and checkout at the beginning and end of each day to start and finish our work in a good way. It allows for the group to discuss, if they feel comfortable, anything that maybe bothering them or anything they need to get off their chest.

The team went over the consent and assent forms again just to ensure all of the young people had their consent forms signed and had signed the assent forms, as well as making sure they knew this was voluntary and that they can stop participating in the project or any of the activities at any time. Once we were all comfortable with the informed consent process, the group then established some ground rules for the day and the workshop that we all agreed upon, such as: phones off/silent until lunch time, keep an open mind on others views and or opinions as well as no judgmental comments, confidentiality (what we say in the group stays in the group) and lastly participate and have fun!

We then moved on to an ice-breaker called Agree/Disagree/Unsure. How this ice-breaker works is that the facilitator reads a series of statements to the group. They then decide whether they agree or disagree with the statement or if they are unsure about whether they agree or disagree. They then go to stand at a particular spot to indicate to the rest of the group whether they agree, disagree or are unsure. Once each participant has chosen where they stand (literally and figuratively!), the facilitator asks participants who are comfortable to do so to explain why they chose the position that they did. This allows for open, non-judgmental group dialogue and for everyone to hear other points of view on a particular issue. The purpose of the ice-breaker was also for the group to start thinking about important issues around gender, sexuality and safety, get out of their comfort zone, and observe some of the differences and similarities within the group, and to learn from each other.

After a lovely hot lunch that we ate sitting in the sunshine that had finally broken through the clouds, we worked on body maps using the prompt “What does it mean to be a girl in my community?”. We used body maps to explore with the young people how they think about their bodies and who they are in relation to their community, how they think about the importance of their safety in the community, and the importance of their thoughts and feelings in their community.

It was amazing for us, as a research team, to see how creative and powerful these young learners were, and what inspiring and important messages they have to share with the world. Their body maps were full of color, pictures, paint, writing and powerful messages of what it means for them to be a girl in their community, and within this they all found new talents within themselves. A few of our participants expressed that they didn’t know they could draw or be creative in such a way and we could see as a team how much pleasure they took in the activity.

Day two of the workshop started with a discussion of leadership. As a team, we felt that it is crucial that the young people we are working with know that there are many different types of leaders and leaderships styles and that one is not more important then the other because each style of leader has a role to play in reaching a common goal. We came up with different examples of leaders such as Nelson Mandela, who was a great leader and was at the forefront of the movement for what he believed in, but he also had leaders and supporters behind him who helped him become great. We also identified Sofi, the founder and head of Isibani, as a leader, as well as each of the young people who are all Peer Educators at their school – wanted them to know they are all leaders in their community and that one person can make a difference no matter where you come from. From the list of leaders that we came up with, we started to identify some leadership qualities/traits do these people have. From that list we asked what leadership qualities we think we have already, and which leadership qualities we don’t think we have but would like to work on. Some of the group shared the qualities that we think we already have, such as confidence, empathy, listening, understanding and passion, and those qualities that we can work on as well. This session gave us the opportunity to reflect on the fact that we can all be leaders and makers of change. We also reflected on the fact that we don’t always need money or a lot of funding to make change, sometimes we can make a meaningful difference if we have passion and dedication.

We spent the rest of the day doing photovoice which is a powerful visual method involving people taking photographs based on a prompt to identify and represent something about their lives, circumstances and/or communities. We started out with a ‘practice run’ using the prompt ‘feeling brave and strong’. Once the young people were a little more familiar with the equipment and process involved they were each asked to take two photographs; one based on the prompt “What makes you feel safe in your community?”, and the other on “What makes you feel unsafe in your community?”. Using a portable digital photograph printer called a Selphy, each person’s photographs were printed. Each young person then stuck each of their photographs onto a piece of paper and wrote the caption beneath the photographs. We then posted their powerful photos on the wall and one by one each of the learners read their descriptions on both photos of feeling unsafe and safe. Some of the themes the youth spoke about involved environmental concerns, safety for girls and young women going out at night, and concerns about alcohol and drug abuse in the community.

The young people came together again as a group after their mini exhibition to come up with a name for their group, and to develop the following curatorial statement for their work:

Changing our Communities: Making Better and Safe Places for Young Women By Leaders for Young Women’s Success, Khethani, Winterton This exhibition comes from a photo-voice project conducted as part of the project, Networks for change and well-being: Girl-led ‘from the ground up’ policy making to address sexual violence in Canada and South Africa. The photos for this exhibition were produced by a group of girls and a boy from a local high school in Khethani, Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after a series of workshops on June 29 to July 1, 2016. The prompt for the photo-voice activity was, “Take pictures of ‘feeling safe’ in my community and feeling unsafe in my community as young women”. The facilitator explained the prompt and gave examples of pictures the group members could take, including spaces, people, etc. She also talked to us about the ethics of photo-voice and of taking pictures, for example, that we may not take pictures of children or of people without their permission. The photos in the exhibition tell a story of safe and unsafe places in our community. Our school is a safe place because there are teachers there who are like our second parents. Unsafe places, like the ‘middle of nowhere’ are not good for young women because there are criminals there who are after women and want to hurt them and overpower them.

 

The third and last day of the workshop focused on drawing. We asked the Leaders for Young Women’s Success to draw four pictures, each one answering or responding to one of the following four questions: (1) What are the challenges you face to being safe in your community, (2) What would you change about this, (3) What already exists in your community that can help with this dream of change, and lastly (4) How can we put this into action? This activity was similar to the activity that we did with participants in our community consultation workshop on 25 May.

In their drawings the young people drew attention to similar themes to those they addressed in the photovoice activity, including environmental challenges to safety, and alcohol and drug abuse in the community. As researchers we often forget that we cannot conduct proper research on topics and issues we have no idea about, that is why Participatory visual methodologies is so important to making real change in real time. It is one thing for us to assume what these girls, learners and young women go through in their own communities, it is another to allow them to express it themselves and for them to be involved in the process of changing their surroundings and policy around girls safety.

The three-day workshop was busy, and by the end of it all of us were tired – probably the grown-ups more than the young people! We all had a wonderful time and were all sad that it was over. We are all looking forward to working together more in the future and making change!

By Lelethu Mlobeli

The book is made up of 14 autobiographical pieces of 14 young South African aboriginal women from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), a South African university.

All women have stories to tell. Our collective story begins when three professors from three universities started working on a project entitled, “Digital media for change and well-being: Girl-led from the ground up’ policy-making in addressing sexual violence at a South African university” with a group of young black South African first-year women university students from rural areas who are all studying towards being teachers. The initiative (pilot project) was part of a larger project, “Networks for change and well-being: Girl-led ‘from the ground up’ policy-making in addressing sexual violence in Canada and South Africa”.

An email was sent to all the first year education women students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University who were from rural areas who are interested in such a project. The thirteen of us sent back the email saying we were interested. We met with a senior student, Zethu Jiyana, who helped us in meeting up with professor Naydene de Lange and meeting together as the 14 girls.

As part of the pilot project, “Digital media for change and well-being: Girl-led ‘from the ground up’ policy-making in addressing sexual violence at a South African university,” we came together regularly from first year to explore issues related to sexual violence especially on the campus (NMMU) itself. We made cellphilms and produced pictures about different situations faced by young women around the campus and on residences. We took action by making posters and action briefs in which we presented to policy makers on campus. We also had an opportunity to participate in a feminist dialogue somewhere in the country.

The stories we told, cellphims we made, and pictures we produced were about what we see as sexual violence from where we come from (rural areas) and here in the university. What stood out for me in all these stories and pictures we produced in the meetings we had with policy makers and student leaders around campus was the fact that we tend to ‘normalise’ sexual violence. I related to this a lot. This also opened a space for me to learn what exactly constitutes sexual violence.

During the meetings/ workshop (pilot project) we also covered a range of topics such as sexual violence, teenage pregnancy, bullying at school, poverty and many other social justice issues. I have learned more about the broad definition of what constitutes sexual violence during different workshops, meetings, and panel presentations that we had with different people from around South Africa and also in the United States during a recent trip to St. Cloud State University.

For the writing of the book, we met in a conference room which is close to the one we regularly had met to engage in various projects. It was emphasised that everyone has a story. We were taught on what a life story is.

We then went to looking at other people stories which helped us in seeing how other people have written their autobiographical stories. We went through a lot of autobiographical stories.

We were then each given a document with a timeline and told to write about the important events and experiences that have contributed to our lives in becoming who we are today.

We were asked to write each one of us, a brief piece capturing our biographical information. Our biography was to be about not more than 500 words. We read our pieces to the whole group (14 of us) and comments were made. This helped us reflect on our stories and revise them. We were then asked to write about further moments and read them to the group. We then wrote one story each from with these two pieces and created a title.

Wanting to combine our stories and make them one book for publication, we came up with different titles of the book on which we chose one that we thought best fits and describes the book; 14 Times a Woman: Indigenous Stories from the Heart.

The book is basically about autobiographical pieces that enabled us (14 young

women) to reflect on the experiences which made us into who we are today.

Digital media for change and well-being: Girl-led ‘from the ground up’ policy-making in addressing sexual violence at a South African university

This pilot project, funded by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Research Theme Grant, feeds into a larger project, Networks for change and well-being: Girl-led ‘from the ground up’ policy-making in addressing sexual violence in Indigenous communities in Canada and South Africa (SSHRC/IDRC, 2014-2020), led by Claudia Mitchell and Relebohile Moletsane.

This project is framed by the critical need for innovative approaches to policy making in relation to the safety and security of girls and young women, particularly in the context of high levels of sexual violence and HIV and AIDS. While sexual violence is a global issue, the study specifically explores ways in which the participation of young women in a democratic society could be and indeed must be transformative. On 4-5 October 2013, a small group of young first year women education students, hailing from the rural areas of the Eastern Cape, came together for a research workshop with Prof Naydene de Lange (NMMU) and Prof Relebohile Moletsane (UKZN).

The first phase of the project engaged the young women students in ‘cellphilm’ making and focus group discussions, in relation to various issues that are associated with young women and sexual violence in the age of AIDS. One of the envisaged outcomes of the project is to inform policy change, contributing to addressing sexual violence at university. The second phase of the project continued in 2014, where the issues raised in the cellphilms were used to generate a set of policy posters and action briefs to be shared with university policy makers. Several successful dialogues with key policy makers at the university have been held, contributing to further new initiatives at the university.

First Community Consultation at the UKZN Research Site in Winterton
May 25^th 2016
By: Rakiya Larkin

Members of the research team, Lisa, Astrid, Noku and I travelled from Durban to the community of Winterton to host a one day community engagement workshop with teachers, social workers and learners from Winterton, Khetani, and surrounding communities to discuss girls’ safety. The consultation was held at the Non-government Organisation (NGO) that we have partnered with in the area. Between 09:00 and 16:00, the four members of the research team along with 12 members of the community worked through a number of activities together, mapping out the challenges faced by girls in the community with regards to girls’ safety, barriers to girls’ safety, as well as resources available that are being or could be used to support girls.

The activities the team and I planned included introductions; ensuring everyone felt comfortable with the team as well as the Informed Consent Forms and making sure they were aware of the project and what we will be doing for the day. As well as them understanding this is voluntary and 100% confidential.

After introductions we also conducted an icebreaker that pertained to the topic of girl’s safety in the community. The purpose of icebreakers is to be used at the beginning of discussions, workshops and seminars. It is used to relieve tension, introduce everyone each other and get to know each other as well as the topic of discussion. They are important not only to get to know each other but also so everyone in the group can see the different realities and perspectives of everyone involved. There are many different icebreakers one can use, the one we used involved in asking a series of questions pertaining to Girl’s Safety; it is called “Step into the circle if…” this activity is to show how much we do and do not have in common. It was important to explain to the participants that we will ask a statement like “Step into the circle if…” and if it applies to them then they step into the circle. We needed to ensure that they know they do not have to step into the circle if they don’t want to let the other participants to know their answer to your statement/question, but that you will never ask something that doesn’t apply to you as well so they will never be alone.

Our biggest activity during the consultation was our community mapping exercise. The exercise was intended so that as a group, we could better understand what the community at large is saying about girl’s safety; what are the key barriers to girls’ safety; what is already available in the community to help with change; what is the vision for change around this issue; and how we can mobilize this change. In three groups, the participants used flip chart paper and coloured pens to brainstorm the four questions:

1. What are the key barriers to girls’ barriers in your community?
2. What changes do you want to see?
3. What does this community already have that can help to solve this issue?
4. How can we make this change happen?

and create a community map. Each group then presented their maps.

After that everybody had 15 stickers each to “vote” for the issues that they felt were a priority for each question. From the voting, we made sure as a group that we all agreed on the priorities we narrowed down and from there we created a new community map. Out of the priorities that were listed, three were consistently discussed; (1) awareness in the community and at home around girl’s safety, (2) educating the parents and the traditional leaders about this issue and what we can do about it together (3) and safe spaces for girls to be able to start these conversations amongst themselves, for example creating a Girls Advisory Committee/Girls Group in the community were prevalent. This further validated what the community needs as well that this participatory methodology of conducting research needs to continue and that the project is extremely important to combating Gender Based Violence to ensure our girls and youth, the next generation, are safe!

 

Coming Soon!

This issue of Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, which will be coming out at the end of August, contains a Special Section on Indigenous Girlhoods as a critical area of scholarship and activism in girlhood studies. Recognizing the need for decolonizing perspectives and approaches, the guest editors, Kirsten Lindquist, Kari-dawn Wuttunee and Sarah Flicker offer a boundary breaking collection. Alongside the fact that it is one of the first collections on Indigenous girlhoods, the Special Section is unique in several other ways. First of all, it is guest edited by an editorial team that includes two Indigenous young women, Kirsten and Kari-dawn, both members of the National Indigenous Young Women’s Council (NIYWC) and as such draws on the strength of an organization of Indigenous young women. It also highlights the significance of community alliances as represented by the contributions of Sarah who has been working with Indigenous young people in Canada for more than a decade. The collection includes submissions on Indigenous girlhoods in Canada, South Africa and Mexico, acknowledging solidarity amongst indigenous peoples globally, as recognized for example in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Finally, it is boundary breaking in that it brings together different genres of writing and other creative productions — personal essays and reviews, poetry and visual art – and in so doing supports the idea in both theory and practice of decolonizing knowledge.

Girlhood Studies 9.2: Table of Contents

SPECIAL SECTION: Indigenous Girls
Edited by Kirsten Lindquist, Kari-dawn Wuttunee, and Sarah Flicker

EDITORIAL
Claudia Mitchell: Breaking Boundaries in Girlhood Studies

INTRODUCTION: Kirsten Lindquist, Kari-dawn Wuttunee, and Sarah Flicker: Speaking Our Truths, Building Our Strengths: Shaping Indigenous Girlhood Studies

ARTICLES

Haidee Smith Lefebvre: Overlapping Time and Place: Early Modern England’s Girlhood Discourse and Indigenous Girlhood in the Dominion of Canada (1684-1860)

Brigette Krieg: Understanding the Role of Cultural Continuity in Reclaiming the Identity of Young Indigenous Women

Natalie Clark: Red Intersectionality and Violence-informed Witnessing Praxis with Indigenous Girls
Mercedes González de la Rocha and Agustín Escobar Latapí: Indigenous Girls in Rural Mexico: A Success Story?

PERSONAL PIECES

Renée Monchalin and Lisa Monchalin: ‘Hey, Can I Call You Quick?’ Navigating the Academic Swells as Young Indigenous Women

Alexa Lesperance: Sexy Health Carnival: One Small Part of Indigenous Herstory

Amanda Buffalo: Mipit

REVIEWS

Jasmyn Galley: Sexual Politics and Cultural Oppression

Nokukhanya Ngcobo: Their Journey to Triumphant Activism: 14 Young Women Speak Out

GENERAL ARTICLES

Emily Chandler: ‘Loving and Cruel, All at the Same Time’: Girlhood Identity in The Craft

Bernice Loh: Theorizing the Adultification of Tweens’ Clothing in Singapore: A Non-Western Approach

REVIEWS

Erin Newcomb: Reading and Re-Reading Models of Girlhood

Reina Green: Attitude or Age: Girlhood in Renaissance England

Our group is based on traditional Mi’kmaq territory and meets weekly in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, NS). Our group is comprised of Mi’kmaq women and women from other Indigenous Nations living here in Mi’kmaq territory. While the nature and focus of our topic is sexualized violence and empowering women’s voices on this subject matter through arts-based forms of expression, we also encourage and support each other in matters related to everyday life as our group members are juggling post-secondary education, work, motherhood and family life while contributing to the project.

We have been meeting for just over two months now and are still in the process of designing the final presentation of our group’s conversations and work. The nature of our discussions touches on a wide range topics, from our every day lived realities to shared history and the impacts of colonization on traditional and contemporary Indigenous realities. Our group brings together a wonderful group of strong Indigenous women each week and we are building a strong foundation for whichever way our project ends up manifesting itself in presentation.

 

Thirteen young women travelled from Port Elizabeth, South Africa to St. Cloud, USA to present the ‘Girls Leading Change’ work on addressing gender-based violence in the ‘Women on Wednesday’ Series, to do School-Based Learning in St. Cloud schools, and to experience the USA in March 2016.

 

Meet our new youth intern

We are delighted to announce that Rakiya Larkin is heading off to spend the next five months at the Centre for Visual Methodologies and Social Change at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The initiative is sponsored by the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD) in partnership with Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN). A consortium project was launched to deliver the International Aboriginal Youth Internship (IAYI) Initiative with funding from Global Affairs Canada (formerly DFATD). For this two-year project, “Breaking Barriers, Building Connections: Canadian Indigenous Youth in Global Health”, ICAD and CAAN have partnered with CAP/AIDS Network, University of Saskatchewan, Lethbridge HIV Connection Society, and Native Youth Sexual Health Network to form a consortium that will facilitate a total of 20 internships for Aboriginal youth (10 youth internship placements per year) in Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa.

The component of the consortium project in South Africa is organized within the International Partnerships for Sustainable Societies (IPaSS) program, funded through IDRC and SSHRC, “Networks for Change and Well-being: Girl-led ‘From the Ground Up’ Policy-making to Address Sexual Violence in Canada and South Africa.” As part of the project, six Aboriginal youth interns over the two years will be attached to the Centre for Visual Methodologies and Social Change (UKZN), working in areas such as participatory visual methodologies, social media and documentation, and supported through the Participatory Cultures Lab, McGill. Three interns have been selected for a five month internship starting in March at the Centre for Visual Methodologies and Social Change.

Biography: Documentation & Research Assistant

My name is Rakiya Larkin and I was born and raised in Victoria, BC. I have been an advocate for all those affected by and or living with HIV and AIDS since a very young age. From public speaking about this epidemic all over Canada, to participating in documentaries about HIV and AIDS and having the honour of participating in community-based research projects, such as the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Networks Family Matters project, an initiative that focuses on Aboriginal Families living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. We are looking at the programs and services that are available for Aboriginal families living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. We ask what those living with and affected by HIV and AIDS need in terms of support and how their suggestions can be implemented. This is an extremely important project, as it is the first of its kind that has been developed by Positive Aboriginal Warriors (PAW) fighters and families of this movement.

Meet our new youth intern

We are delighted to announce that Rakiya Larkin is heading off to spend the next five months at the Centre for Visual Methodologies and Social Change at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The initiative is sponsored by the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD) in partnership with Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN). A consortium project was launched to deliver the International Aboriginal Youth Internship (IAYI) Initiative with funding from Global Affairs Canada (formerly DFATD). For this two-year project, “Breaking Barriers, Building Connections: Canadian Indigenous Youth in Global Health”, ICAD and CAAN have partnered with CAP/AIDS Network, University of Saskatchewan, Lethbridge HIV Connection Society, and Native Youth Sexual Health Network to form a consortium that will facilitate a total of 20 internships for Aboriginal youth (10 youth internship placements per year) in Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa.

The component of the consortium project in South Africa is organized within the International Partnerships for Sustainable Societies (IPaSS) program, funded through IDRC and SSHRC, “Networks for Change and Well-being: Girl-led ‘From the Ground Up’ Policy-making to Address Sexual Violence in Canada and South Africa.” As part of the project, six Aboriginal youth interns over the two years will be attached to the Centre for Visual Methodologies and Social Change (UKZN), working in areas such as participatory visual methodologies, social media and documentation, and supported through the Participatory Cultures Lab, McGill. Three interns have been selected for a five month internship starting in March at the Centre for Visual Methodologies and Social Change.

Biography: Documentation & Research Assistant

My name is Rakiya Larkin and I was born and raised in Victoria, BC. I have been an advocate for all those affected by and or living with HIV and AIDS since a very young age. From public speaking about this epidemic all over Canada, to participating in documentaries about HIV and AIDS and having the honour of participating in community-based research projects, such as the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Networks Family Matters project, an initiative that focuses on Aboriginal Families living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. We are looking at the programs and services that are available for Aboriginal families living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. We ask what those living with and affected by HIV and AIDS need in terms of support and how their suggestions can be implemented. This is an extremely important project, as it is the first of its kind that has been developed by Positive Aboriginal Warriors (PAW) fighters and families of this movement.